HAMPTON, Ga.—More than two years ago as Shane Hmiel reflected on his NASCAR career while putting plans in place to possibly compete in the Indianapolis 500, he knew that getting back in the driver’s seat in NASCAR was mostly a dream.

The only driver banned for life under NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy, Hmiel had given up on his hopes of racing in NASCAR again, but he wished he could just hang out in the NASCAR garage and see his friends in their working environment, just as he did until NASCAR officials escorted him out of the Dover garage in May 2005 for a failed drug test.

On Friday, Hmiel, 32, paralyzed since a devastating crash in October 2010, got that wish as NASCAR allowed him into the Atlanta Motor Speedway garage and pit road as the guest of Camping World Truck Series team owner Billy Ballew.

“Today is one of the biggest days in my life and my career,” Hmiel said in an interview with Sporting News on pit road during Friday night’s truck race. “For one, I embarrassed the hell out of my family. And for two, I straightened up enough to where NASCAR will let me be back in a great sport like auto racing.

“Being at the racetrack, watching this truck race is better than winning a race.”

Hmiel’s return to the NASCAR garage was an emotional one as a steady stream of well-wishers visited him as he watched the truck race. It marked the first time many had seen him since his crash Oct. 9, 2010, at The Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track, where his USAC Silver Crown car flipped and the top of the car—which had a roll cage but no roof—hit the track’s concrete wall.

Battling for his life with a bruised spine, a head injury, a broken shoulder and collapsed lungs before suffering pneumonia and other complications, Hmiel has limited use of his arms but has feeling in all his limbs.

Hmiel has said some doctors predict he could still develop walking skills for up to five years from the date of the accident. He was in the Atlanta area as he continues therapy at the renowned Shepherd Center, which specializes in brain and spinal cord injuries.

“(Rehab) is good—I just got extended and am here until the 29th of September,” Hmiel said. “They work me good. They work me 8 to 4 every day. It’s a lot. I tell you what, by 2 in the afternoon and by Thursday, you’re ready for the week to be over.

“It’s Friday and I am a little wore out, but I’m not as wore out as the last time I was here so I am getting stronger.”

Hmiel is used to long-odds battles. He had seven career Sprint Cup starts, 83 starts in the Nationwide Series and 29 in the Truck Series before his NASCAR banishment.

He missed the final eight races of the 2003 season after a positive test for marijuana. He was suspended again in May 2005 after testing positive for marijuana and cocaine and then banned for life in January 2006 after he failed an ensuing test during his recovery period.

Eventually a diagnosis of bipolar disorder was the first step toward his overcoming the drug addiction. Hmiel returned to racing in 2008 in USAC and was expected to begin a path designed to race in the Indianapolis 500. That all ended with the crash, but he has since started a USAC Midget team, which has two victories.

Watching the truck race was special for Hmiel, who won the September 2004 race at Las Vegas, his only NASCAR victory and the first in the history of the Ballew-owned team.

Just seeing that truck on the track Friday was enough to satisfy Hmiel as Kurt Busch wheeled it to a 10th-place finish.

“That 51 truck out there racing Kurt Busch is driving—it’s an 8-year-old truck that I won in it, Kyle Busch won in it and Aric Almirola won in it,” Hmiel said. “It’s just neat for Billy to bring that out and have such a good driver like Kurt in it.”

Busch’s crew chief, Nick Harrison, is a lifelong friend of Hmiel, and he was thrilled to have Hmiel at the track.

“It was awful cool having him there,” Harrison said. “He’s so upbeat and a positive influence. For somebody that’s been through what he’s been through, if we had a bad pit stop or something go wrong, I’d turn around and see Shane back there and what we’ve got going on ain’t so bad.”

Said Hmiel, “It’s great to see people that you haven’t seen in years. It’s been seven years since I’ve been in a NASCAR garage. I’m just very thankful that everybody at NASCAR let me come have a good weekend.”